


Blurred Lines

by Tortellini



Series: Inktober/Fictober 2k19 [20]
Category: The Goldfinch (2019), The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Based on a Tumblr Post, Best Friends, Blankets, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Drug Use, Drugs, Dysfunctional Relationships, Everyone Needs A Hug, Families of Choice, Fictober 2019, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hugs, Humor, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Inktober 2019, Inspired By Tumblr, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Era, Light Angst, M/M, Male Friendship, Recreational Drug Use, Romantic Friendship, Touch-Starved, Wordcount: 500-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21515128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tortellini/pseuds/Tortellini
Summary: Inktober/Fictober 2019 Day 20: BlanketFandom: The Goldfinch (Donna Tartt) (2019)Theo and Boris blur lines, even around other people, and they pretend not to notice.Oneshot
Relationships: Theodore Decker/Boris Pavlikovsky
Series: Inktober/Fictober 2k19 [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1508147
Comments: 2
Kudos: 62





	Blurred Lines

Theo Decker is comforted by touch. His mom was always one to hug someone she loved, or ruffle her son's hair, much to his pretend chagrin. On the same token though, he's been affected by adverse touch maybe moreso than others. Is that a good enough phrase? When his dad would get angry and snap, throw something, even occasionally hit him--it's a lot. Too much. 

Now his mom is gone and his dad isn't as angry, so much, as apathetic. Theo has bigger things to worry about than what grounds him. It's not like anyone is even paying attention anyway.

Except for one. And that's one of the last people he'd expect to, if he didn't know him. 

Boris Pavlikovsky is rough around the edges in an unkempt, unsullied way--which doesn't make any sense because he's the wildest person Theo knows. He has cigarettes tucked behind an ear, matted curly hair past the stage of shiny and now just greasy. Theo wonders wryly if his hair will ever start on fire. His eyes are black-ringed from bruises and lack of sleep alike, and his smile is sly and gray. 

It's not a comforting sight to some but to Theo himself it's more than he feels like he deserves, sometimes. 

And the thing about Boris is that he touches. A skinny arm around him, grounding; a hand in his hair; shoulders bumping, jostling each other, Boris' laughter loud and harsh in his ear.

And sometimes, when they're both too high and too drunk to remember anything in the morning (or at least that's what Theo tells himself) and they're sleeping in the same bed--he'll wake up in a haze to feel Boris' arms around him again, around his bare waist, pulled to a bird-boned chest. 

Theo figures it's around this time when they drift from just being friends to something else. And that terrifies him. He never speaks of it. And Boris doesn't either. 

Drugs are a huge part of both of their lives. Boris doesn't pressure him into getting high, but he is excited when he has something--black eyes twinkling, crooked grin. He wants to share it with Theo like a secret. And Theo's curious. He trusts Boris to take care of him through the high. 

After all, Boris has through everything else.

Theo is high around Xandra one day. She isn't his stepmom--just his sleazy dad's admittedly sleazy girlfriend. He is positive she does drugs too, at least according to Boris

("Vitamins?" he says one day, cocking an eyebrow and pronouncing it like 'veet-a-mins'. "It's not 'v' for _vitamin,_ Potter, it's for 'vicodin'!")

so she can't reprimand him or else she'd be a hypocrite. Boris is there too, because Boris is always there--high out of his mind with an easy, lazy smile on his face. Theo is leaning against him. He's tired. 

"Hey," he says loudly to Xandra and he's high so he's more comfortable talking to her. "Boris is like a blanket."

She stares at him. The noise of her popping her gum echoes around in his otherwise empty head like one last braincell bouncing around. Next to him, Boris laughs, easy. 

"What the fuck." She says.

He frowns. "Ask me how."

"..."

"Ask me _how_." 

She sighs, pops her gum again. "Fine, okay. How is he like a blanket."

At that moment, Theo leans back into his friend abruptly, and Boris wraps his arms around him. "Holds me."

Xandra looks at him a little weirdly. They were--the two boys seemed so close, she thinks to herself. Too close to just be friends. It's not her business. He isn't her son. And the weird homeless-looking Russian kid looks her up and down with wide eyes whether or not she's looking at him. So there's that. But still. 

She stares slightly. And Theo doesn't notice. 

**Author's Note:**

> ( comment your email if you have not yet seen the movie and would like a surprise -- I'm passing on the good news )


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